[GPSCC-chat] campaign to block privatisation of waste water treatment in Novato

[Wes Rolley]

On 5/19/2010 12:39 PM, Caroline Yacoub wrote:
> Thanks Gerry, for looking into this issue. I have another question: 
> why should the Marin (or Solano) board of supes give a good gosh-darn 
> what the Green Party of Santa Clara County thinks? In other words, 
> what earthly use is our endorsement? I could see a point in getting 
> into the Palo Alto thing. But Marin? Maybe they just don't have any 
> north bay Greens who want to do phone banking or leafletting.
>
> --- On *Wed, 5/19/10, Gerry Gras /<gerrygras at earthlink.net>/* wrote:
>

There is a lot of mis-conception about this issue.

To begin with, Joe Feller has been very active in a number of local 
governance questions... especially in fighting big box retailers like 
Walmart.  His involvement in the Marin County Waste Treatment question 
is just an extension.  Both dovetail with his Green Party work, but most 
of this is not done from the viewpoint of being an official GP 
representative... where he also the CC Regional Rep.

And, there are a number of organized Greens in Marin... e.g. more than 
half of the Fairfax City Council as well as Marnie Glickman - Gary 
Ruskin from Green Change.  I am sure that Marnie is very much on board 
with this, though spending most of her time on the GPUS Platform 
revision coming up at the Annual National Meeting.

A significant portion of Marin County, including Novato, is represented 
by Jared Huffman in the Assembly.  Huffman was one of the architects of 
the Water legislation that passed last fall.  He worked for years as a 
lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and served on 
the board of the Marin County Water District.  All of which gave him the 
typical insider, political game player mentality that says he knows best 
and does not have to listen to anyone.  Once in a while, he is right.  
Since the Novato Democratic Club sponsored the kick-off event for the 
campaign against privatization, I would assume the he is against it, but 
can not quickly find a reference that says so.  This just underscores 
the manner in which things work in Marin.  The Marin Peace and Justice 
Coalition was also a sponsor of the kickoff.

As to the question of what good an endorsement from non-Marin Greens 
might have, it would be better to put the question to Joe directly 
rather than to make conjectures about what might be needed.

I will also note that Marnie Glickman attributed Pam's win for Fairfax 
City Council partially on the ability of Greens in Marin to do phone 
banking.  It also helped find some new resources for the party.

That being the case, I would suggest that we do volunteer to 
participate, especially to do phone banking... and to ask Feller for a 
good script.  That can be done from here... and, if run as efficiently 
as the one in Fairfax, we might learn to make it a habit.
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